Big Island of Hawaii Private & Custom Tours

Kelson does a great job and knows his history. Very pleasant personality and most importantly a safe driver!! You can tell he enjoys his job.

Rebecca was amazing! Kind, flexible, and accommodating to any group or limitations you have! She called within minutes of me booking just to go over every detail and reassure me of the itinerary and that she was able to pick me up from our hotel even though the website said it was out of policy. She accommodated a family or two elderly grandparents and a 2 yr old toddler. We were changing our pickup time and whether we wanted to do a day or night tour all the way up until the night before and she was so accomodating and doing research to give us minute by minute suggestions. I will totally book with her again the next time I come back!

This self guided tour was everything! I loved that it gave us the option to choose our own adventures. If we passed something, the tour would recognize it and move on to the next thing. It was so nice to have something that linked directly to gps for us. When we lost internet connection in the rainforest, this tour got us through to the main road. The tour guide had an awesome voice too!

Our guide, Justin, was AMAZING! he was so knowledgeable and easy to be with. We felt like we really learned a lot and found everything so interesting.

Can participate even if you aren't comfortable to drive an ATV.Tasted local coconut and pineapple. So tasty.

Alex was fantastic. He is native to the islands and was extremely knowledgeable. He shared a lot of gems from his native culture to help you understand the islands and the volcanos. He is friendly, funny, engaging and draws you in. He blew a conch shell to draw us back to himself and was always clear in his directions. I would highly recommend any tour where he is the guide.

Kalaninuimehamhea is a fantastic guide briming with local and cultural knowledge. He was full of stories of the local plants and wildlife and how the land at higher elevations came to be viewed as sacred. The tour started with a brief history of the islands peoples and how they came to be here, and progressed through to modern times ad the tour progressed. An absolutely gem of an experience and the highlight of my entire trip. If you have a curious and respectful mind and soul, you can't book a better tour.

One of my favorite tours by far. They did an excellent job. I will say it is important to follow their instructions. They warn people about the mosquitoes and I was the only one in our group who listened, lol. I shared my mosquito spray of course. They are very clear with instructions but people just have to follow them. I strongly recommend this tour. It was super fun and we also learned a lot.

Nice relaxing and enjoyable tour. Stefan was so knowlegable and informative of the island. I learned so much and the scenery where we stopped was so beautiful. Well worth paying for a driver so you can enjoy yourself. Also breaking tour up into specialty area is the way to go. Not rushing around trying to see whole island in one day.

We had a great time our driver and guide was a lot of fun and knowledgable of Hawaiian topics. I would recommend this tour. Lots of fun. Weather didn’t cooperate to well so a few of us declined the waterfall swim (rain/muddy).

The entire experience was awesome. Uncle Jim truly makes the tour. His knowledge fueled by his passion and love for what he does is quite apparent. We cannot thank him enough. Our family could not stop speaking of how awesome the tour was and everything we were able to do in 11 hours. Thank you so much!!

Wow! What an amazing day! We would never have gotten nearly as much out of our time at Volcano had we hiked out on our own. Our guide John was the best…kind, knowledgeable, and so patient with a very inquisitive 12 year old. He has immense knowledge of cultural history, geology and botany. Wish we could have had more time and learned even more from John. Highly recommend! Great communication during a during an uncertain time and they even gave us a heads up the day before our schedule tour that an eruption had started so we could get to the area earlier.

Outstanding tour! Jodi and Rob are wonderful. Very knowledgeable about the volcano. Showed us the best spots to view the volcano and hidden gems in the park. Rob took family photos of us along the way and sent us a full gallery of wonderful pictures. I highly recommend Rob and Jodi if you are planning a trip to Volcanoes National Park.

Our guide Michael was very informative. Enjoy every minute of our tour. He took great care to be sure we had a good time

20/10 — One of the Most Incredible Ocean Experiences We’ve Ever Had!I honestly don’t know how to give Scott, Kate, and Kona Ocean Adventures enough stars for the experience they gave us tonight. Five stars doesn’t even come close. This was a 20/10 experience from beginning to end.We booked their private sunset snorkeling trip, rustic dinner, and nighttime manta ray experience, and the entire evening was absolutely incredible.A little perspective: we’re from Florida, we’re scuba divers, and we spend a lot of time in and around the ocean—so it takes quite a bit to really blow us away. Scott and Kate absolutely did.The sunset snorkel alone would have made the trip worth it. We saw an unbelievable amount of marine life—puffer fish, purple tangs, yellow tangs, unicorn tangs, blue boxfish, angelfish, foxface, all kinds of wrasses, urchins and so much more.And then there was the monk seal.A HUGE monk seal came right up between the boats and literally used the line between them to brush her teeth! 😂 We just sat there watching her work the rope through her mouth like dental floss. It was one of those completely unexpected wildlife encounters you know you’ll be talking about for years.But somehow the night was just getting started.The nighttime manta ray experience was absolutely unreal.We had at least SIX different manta rays swimming with us, and when I say close, I mean INCHES FROM OUR FACES.They came straight toward us and did barrel roll after barrel roll directly underneath us. At times they were so close you could look straight into their mouths as they rolled beneath you. They actually made physical contact with us multiple times as they passed.We have video of it, and even watching the video doesn’t completely capture what it felt like to actually be there.There were moments when you’re floating on the surface, looking down at these enormous animals coming straight toward you, and your brain is telling you there’s no possible way they can get any closer—then they roll at the last second and pass just inches underneath you.Again. And again. And again.It was spectacular.What really made the evening, though, was Scott and Kate. A private charter is supposed to feel different from being shuffled through a big commercial tour, and this absolutely did. They made the entire evening personal, relaxed, fun and memorable. You never felt rushed or like you were just the next group being moved through an itinerary.The sunset, snorkeling, dinner, wildlife, manta rays and the personal attention from Scott and Kate all came together into one of those rare vacation experiences that completely exceeds what you thought you were booking.We’ve done a lot of ocean activities and diving over the years, and this is easily one of the coolest marine experiences we have ever had.If you’re coming to Kona and considering a manta ray trip, do yourself a favor and book the private experience with Kona Ocean Adventures. Especially if you want something more personal than a large-group excursion.Scott and Kate — thank you for an absolutely unforgettable evening.We came hoping to see some manta rays.We left having watched at least six of them barrel roll inches from our faces, had a monk seal stop by to floss her teeth, saw an incredible variety of Hawaiian marine life, and made a memory we’ll be talking about for the rest of our lives.Five stars isn’t enough. 20/10. Absolutely phenomenal. 🤙🌅🌊🤿

this tour was just amazing, the experience of a lifetime. seeing a live volcano was the objective but what made this tour truly spectacular was our pilot who took us to see some unreal 'out of this world" waterfalls, heavenly scenery and natural vistas that looked like out of a movie - the whole adventure was mesmerizing.